Astros may be interested in Clemens' comeback, but Rocket reluctant

This Story is About...

Share This Story On...

SUGAR LAND — Roger Clemens says his weekend start in the minors shouldn’t be viewed as a prelude to a big league comeback.

The 50-year-old Clemens is scheduled to pitch Saturday for the Sugar Land Skeeters against the Bridgeport Bluefish in the independent Atlantic League.

“I don’t know how much clearer I can say it,” Clemens said Friday. “I’m nowhere near major league ready, nor have I been training or pitching in that type of mode.”

But Houston Astros owner Jim Crane told Houston’s KRIV-TV the team is open to the idea of adding the seven-time Cy Young Award winner and is sending a scout to the game.

“If it goes all right and he comes to us, we’ll talk to baseball about it at length,” Crane said. “The only thing we don’t want to do is make it a publicity stunt. If we did it, I want to try and take it and turn it into a positive, which would be Roger’s doing it for the good of baseball.”

For now, Clemens says he’s looking no further than Saturday and will decide later how much — or if — he pitches again.